Therelon, Keeper of Wisdom
Description Its heart is scholastic endeavor. Its hand is the twisting rites of the arcane. It is Therelon, Keeper of Knowledge and architect of the greatest enchantments the world has ever seen. Left alone to grand chamber at the top of its great Tower, save for the occasional visit by its Siblings or its Devoted, Therelon has long strived to unravel the secrets of the world. While interrupting it in the course of its study will draw its ire, it is not opposed to company by any means. Indeed, while it prefers to carry out its studies in complete solitude, it desperately craves companionship. When it addresses one of its followers as “Child,” it does so not as a means of asserting its own superiority, but as a term of endearment; it sees those mortals who follow it as its Devoted Children. While it will not suffer those who would do harm to its Children to live, it does not grieve. Perhaps once the passing of those mortals it comes to care for might have caused it turmoil, but it has long since grown satisfied with holding fast to its precious memories. Therelon, for all of its affection, does not look the part of a loving parent. While mannish in shape, it is covered in feathers that run the spectrum from dark blues to steely greys. Great wings, each two thirds as along as a man is tall, stretch from its back. Its fingers end in long, grey-blue claws, and its legs end in wicked, curves talons. Its head is crowned by a mane long feathers, stretching out over its neck. Beneath its mane rest, upon its long, sloping face, four eyes. The bottom two are always open, the top two are always closed. It all ends in the long, abruptly curved beak of a raven. Powers Therelon is, indisputably, a master of the arcane. What at first was a natural inclination and predilection has evolved over the centuries into an embodiment. Before it was bound in the Pit, those who lacked a proper understanding of what the Children of Aton were would often mistake Therelon for a god of magic. With those centuries has also come intelligence and guile—though he does pale in the latter compared to some of his Siblings, like Eyra and Kinion. Though it may surprise some to look at it, Therelon’s physical power is not particularly great. Aside from its ability to fly, most any mortal could accomplish greater physical feats than it. It normally avoids close quarters confrontation, but can compensate in such situations. It knows how to use its magic to augment its physical ability, but doing so is immensely inefficient, and limits it to all but its most basic magic while bringing it nowhere near the physical ability of many of its siblings—though, well beyond what a single mortal could overcome. Original Tribe Therelon’s tribe were the Malaki—a name long forgotten before the Wars of the Children had begun to simmer in the hearts of Aton’s brood. So long ago that the story belonged more to legend than history before the construction of the Pit, Therelon led its people out into the desert, and ordered that they build a great tower. The site it chose was the harshest and most violently hot, but Therelon had the grace to shield its followers from the heat and storms of dust with its magic. But Therelon did not shield them from the hardship of labor. Mining, cutting, and laying the stone of the tower was backbreaking labor; many of the Makati were crushed under rock, and broken by exhaustion. When a generation had passed, and all was complete, Therelon raised its clawed hands, and, in a focused effort of magic and will, fused the stone of the tower into a unified whole. It proclaimed that the tower would henceforth be a place where all the knowledge of the world would be gathered, and its seekers would congregate. Therelon posed a choice to its followers: Leave the tower behind, leave your master, populate the world with the blessing and protection of the Keeper of Knowledge, but owe it no allegiance, or stay as stewards and protectors of the tower. Many chose to leave Therelon and its Tower behind, becoming the first to populate what is now the Koyatia Province, and their descendants still survive in some of those who live there now. Those who stayed were declared by Therelon were declared the Devoted. Ever since, it is the Devoted who have been Therelon’s people. So long as they persist, they are granted arcane power by a complex enchantment weaved by Therelon, drawing power from the very ground beneath the tower. Some would catalogue and organize the tomes and scrolls within the tower, others would stand ready to defend the tower should some force come to take or destroy what was held there, and others still would go out into the world to seek new tomes and new knowledge. So it was for countless years. Peoples from across the world would make the journey through the forbidding wasteland to the Tower—which was, Therelon is known to have said, a test of intelligence and perseverance—and the Tower would receive and teach all those who came to learn win peace, repelling those who did not, and occasionally welcoming a new scholar into the ranks of the Devoted, and occasionally bidding farewell to those that did not find the life of the Devoted fulfilling. Things changed for them when Therelon was sealed away in the Pit. With their master lost to them, the Devoted were consumed by sorrow, terror, and rage. Many voices called for them to wage war—to bring their arcane might against the Etruscan army with the fury of their grief. Some did. But by-and-large, the Devoted remained true to the duties given to them by their Master. Their numbers dwindled over the centuries—some abandoned their duty and fled into the desert, some were lost to diseases that Therelon had protected them from, and some simply did not have children. At last, eight hundred years after Eyra’s betrayal, the Etruscan army came to the Tower. Many had thought them and their power to be boogeymen, made up to scare children into obeying their parents. Others had thought that their power had faded with the loss of their master, or with the passing of time. They were wrong; the Devoted fought with the fury of a forgotten era. Not since the Wars of the Children had magic been wielded on the field of battle, and while the Devoted could not compare to a member of Aton’s brood, they wielded their power with violence and rage, and accomplished together what so single caster could hope to. Great winds that raised up the sand to scour their enemies away. Blasts of heat that cooked armored soldiers alive. Boulders flung into the air and shattered with magic, to rain down great shards upon the besieging army. When the enemy managed to breech their defenses, they would push them back with arms and armor that had been woven with enchantments to allow them to overcome advantages of strength and number held by the enemy. It would have been enough to crush the morale of any invader. Except the Etruscans weren’t just any invaders. They had come under the orders of their Godmother. They fought at the behest of divine will. Scores of scores of them died before the magic might of the Devoted, but still they pressed on. In time, their numbers won out. The defenders at the foot of the Tower were overrun. The Etruscan army poured up and around the great Tower, slaughtering the Devoted. There have always been rumors that some of them escaped, as one would expect, but none can deny that the bloodbath that day was ruthless. When the killing was finished, the taking began. Every book, every scroll, every enchanted relic, every single thing of remote value not part of the stone of the Tower was taken by the Etruscans. Eyra had them take it all, and she locked it away in her great vault. And so the Devoted vanished from the world. People still tell tales of them. The Etruscans of the vile practitioners of the darkest arts, sacrificing babes and virgins to their cruel, avian god. Those who revile the Etruscans of great and terrible sorcerers who nearly bled the Etruscans dry, before being overrun in their valiant fight. Others still say that they are a fabrication; that they are old wives’ tales and best left to fade before the ages. And in Koyatia stands a tower of stone. Untouched by time, undamaged by wind and sand. Waiting for its Master to once more come to roost, and bring knowledge and power to its Devoted Children. Faction Once the Tower had been established, Therelon had a very hands-off leadership of his Devoted; it largely left its flowers to carry out their duties in the fashion they determined, but would give advice if they asked and aid also only if they asked—and if it deemed the situation in need of its intervention. Its views on nations of mortals was similar: it left them to their own devices, but was willing to offer aid and aid if asked for—but as they were not its devoted, it would demand some price to do so. This put Therelon not quite in either camp, and it decided on the outset to be neutral, and allow both sides access to its archives. However, it did not last. The time eventually came when Therelon was forced to choose a side. After careful consideration, it decided that the Angels were more in-line with its philosophy than the Demons, and so sided with them. Anecdotes * Even after joining the Angels, Therelon allowed access to the Tower’s trove of knowledge to remain freely accessible to all. Ultimately it was a matter of principle: knowledge should not be restricted. Besides, if there was any tactically or strategically important information inside, then the Demons would have made copies of their own long ago. * As the most magically inclined of the Children of Aton, Therelon was the one its fellow angels turned to design and build the Pit. It took some effort to do, but Therelon was eventually convinced to go along with the plan. It stung all the more for this when Eyra betrayed her fellow Angels, and bound them within the Pit. * A legend from the southern reaches of the world that says the first person to successfully forge a sword out of steel was one of Therelon’s Devoted. To honor their Master, they named the blade the Great Feather, as a reference to the color of Therelon’s wings. It is said that Therelon itself wove powerful enchantments through the blade, and that, in the hands of one of the Devoted, it could cut down all but the most skilled blademasters, but was an unwieldy hunk of metal in any other hands. It cut swathes through the ranks of the Etruscans when thay laid siege to the great Tower, but was lost to them when the Tower fell. Opinions * Eyra the Seer: Once, Therelon had a certain fondness for Eyra. Her ability came foremost from her mind, something which Therelon, scholar above all else, respected tremendously. But that has changed. She betrayed its trust, bound it in its own creation, and slaughtered its followers. Eyra is the first creature in all of Therelon’s long life to earn its hatred. * Kinion the Fool: Therelon does not dislike Kinion. While Kinion’s antics could be grating at times, it found a great many stories of Kinion’s antics amusing, and saw that there hidden purpose in his every action—though as to what it was, he could not say. It opposed Kinion’s imprisonment in the Pit, and spoke out against it even as Kinion was being bound, but ultimately did nothing to stop it.. * Wu Dan: Therelon respects discipline. Therelon respects wisdom. Therelon respects honor and duty. Therelon respects Wu Dan. * Nod, the Great Beast: Therelon believes that Nod's bloodshed has its place—as far away from its Tower as possible. That said, Therelon doesn't have anything against Nod personally, but it likes its Devoted alive and its books undamaged. * Chinasa the Pallid: This one killed one of Therelon's Devoted. While said Devoted was overstepping its bounds, it was still one of the Devoted. Chinasa has drawn Therelon's ire. Once Eyra is dealt with, Therelon may seek to settle matters between them. * Tarthus, the three Faced Lord: Tarthus, to Therelon's understanding, lacks a personage of its own. While its understanding of the matter may be flawed, Tarthus exists to serve a purpose, and is wholly dedicated to that purpose. While that is respectable in its own right, the absence of any other defining characteristics make Tarthus difficult to actually like. * Azoth: Perhaps unsurprisingly, Therelon does not trust, nor particularly like, Azoth. Even after Therelon chose to side with the Angels, the Devoted were small enough, and confined enough to a single space—the Tower—that Therelon was always able stand watch against this particular sibling. As such, Azoth has not done anything to trult inspire anger in it. * Kozz, the Forgemaster: Kozz's raw mastery of metal is well known. His ability to create, even if it is creating weapons of war, with such immaculate skill is something that Therelon respects deeply. * Ash: Ash defies understanding. This does not sit well with Therelon. Therelon prefers to be able to comprehend the people and things around it, but Ash, it would seem, is ever shifting, lacking any sort of pattern or singular guiding motivation. While Therelon would like to understand, it takes a position of neutrality in regards to Ash at this time. * Aylin: Hunting does not particularly appeal to Therelon, and it has been made to understand that she is much too dour. However, as one of its Kin, and as one possessing tremendous skill, it considers her worthy of respect. Category:Characters Category:Children of Aton